


Live in the Hope

by ShadowSpires



Series: 2020 Birthday Prompts [1]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of battle, Gen, I don't think it's too bleak though, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:55:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23551903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowSpires/pseuds/ShadowSpires
Summary: Keeli goes down fighting. Blood in his teeth and blaster in hand, like every day of his life. Short and brutal and his and he’ll fight for every inch of it, every instant even as he spends it for others.For the Prompt: Keeli + A Jedi of your choice + "Waking up when you thought you were gonna die"
Series: 2020 Birthday Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1695088
Comments: 7
Kudos: 114





	Live in the Hope

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Arwen00710](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arwen00710/gifts).



Keeli goes down fighting. Blood in his teeth and blaster in hand, like every day of his life. Short and brutal and _his_ and he’ll fight for every _inch_ of it, every _instant_ even as he spends it for others. The Twi’leks are behind them, his men around him, his General fighting beside him.

They’ll do this, they _will_.

So he drags himself up again, to his general’s side, the last, just the two of them, and his helmet is lost, but he keeps fighting, through the pain, through the wheeze in his lungs that’s told him he’s messed up something _bad_ and –

– and then he’s falling –

_General!_

– Black.

~~~~~

He comes awake with a scream, pain tearing at his side, something with teeth set in and shaking–

“Kriff, he’s awake–!”

“–can kriffing _see_ that–!”

“Captain! Hold still, we have to get your chest plate off!”

He clamps down on the scream that wants to follow, eyes blurry, but – white shapes above him, edged in gold – “My General!” He demands on a gasp, struggling, fighting to sit up, to see, to – He saw his men, all of them, fall, one after the other. Dix and Wrap and Yup, and Endurance and Quick and Jumps and – but General Di had still been standing, still been fighting and –

“–a blasted _sedative_!”

“–have any!”

“–painkiller–”

“–wouldn’t still be in _pain_ if I–!”

They’re not answering him.

He can’t see clearly, still can’t bring them into focus, but that’s… “  
  
_“General!”_ Keeli shouted it, or tried to, choked on the breath he pulled it, so it emerged as a pained whine, but he had to be there, he had to be, how could Keeli still be here if his general was gone?

He’s fighting them. He doesn’t know how to stop. He has to know, he has to see, they succeeded, didn’t they? They had to. How was he still alive, he’d known they would all die. But if brothers were here someone had come, and they had been saved, at least a few. Not just him.

“…the problem?” A different voice, not a brother.

“–out of _supplies_ –”

“– can’t get him to settle, asking –”

“ –know about his General, sir.”

That same voice: “–can help with some of that, at least.”

A warm hand, pressed to his face, and Keeli nearly collapsed as the pain flooded away from him like water from a broken bucket. There was a sound of victory from his side, and a feeling of pressure – his chest plate being removed, but he couldn’t feel it, recognized the touch of the Force on him, but – he looked up into blue eyes and a human face, and it _wasn’t the face he wanted to see._

“General?” He asks, almost desperately, taking the chance to talk, to breathe like his chest wasn’t full of glass, stuffed full of Light, instead. “We were fighting – did we do it? My men, my general, they –”

That was grief on a human face, easier to read than on a Nikto, without the practice Keeli had gotten and – gutting.

He closes his eyes, feeling the world swim, spiral.

“Captain,” that voice said, commanding, something hooking around him, holding him. Keeli fights that too. _“Captain._

Keeli peels his eyes open against the weight pressing on him. The eyes above him are still grieved, but also sympathetic. 

“Your mission succeeded, Captain. The Twi’leks escaped, and received the supplies,” the Jedi above him says.

Not for nothing, then, they did it, they _succeeded_ , even if —

“ _Captain_ ,” Command. Keeli’s eyes yank open again. “Your General lives, Captain. I can’t make you any promises, but for now he lives. Keep fighting.”

Keep fighting.

Keeli coughs out a laugh, and — blood on his lips, he can taste it, familiar, metallic and bitter. The _vode_ at his side, medics, make concerned sounds and shift him, loading him onto a gurney. The Jedi doesn’t take his hand off him, doesn’t let the pain rush back and take him.

“Don’t know how to stop, sir,” Keeli admits. 

“Good man,” the Jedi says, as Keeli coughs, again. “But for now, rest. Your General will be with you when you wake.”

So much for no promises.

But Jedi live on hope.

And so can he.


End file.
